A/n: The plot thickens! Or, Amelie gets thrown a bone by James Potter - which might blow up in his face.

Amelie

I smile as I scribble down some notes in my play book. Our recent addition to our practices, Lily Potter, is going to be excited that I've come up with a chaser's routine that suits her strengths. She's coming along nicely at practices and she fits in well with the other girls. Rose is quite proud of her young cousin for going against James' wishes for his female relatives not to play quidditch.

Speaking of Potter, I haven't seen head or tail of the boy since the dungbomb accident. Lily reckons that the professors think he's the perpetrator of the crime and assigned him detention every night for the past week.

'Psst, Perry!' But all good things come to an end.

'Perry!' Potter hisses from between bookshelves near my table. I ignore him, he's the last person I want to talk to. 'Perry, for Fawkes sake.' He moves from his hiding spot to the seat next to me, quickly hiding his fat face behind a third year Herbology book. I slip my playbook into my bag and turn to my essay.

'What do you want Potter.' I ask. 'I–'

'I have a proposition for you.' He steals a glance sideways at me. I'm too shocked to speak and he takes it as an invitation to continue. 'Our match next week is against Slytherin and I need inside info.'

'And why should I help you?' I scoff, dotting an i with so much vigor that I puncture the paper. 'It's not really in my best interest.'

'I can pay you.' He says. 'I know you're short a couple of galleons for your quidditch kits.'

'How do you–' I turn to face him, spotting my playbook in his hands, open to the page where I'd written the costs of our new gear. After Mr Piggy lost some weight I'd brought down the amount, but there was still shipping burning a hole in our budget.

'Give me that.' I snatch my book away with a huff, closing it and pushing it out of his reach.

'If you can get me good, relevant information about the Slytherin team, I'll give you the money you need.'

It's an enticing offer.

'Why can't you get your own information?' I ask him.

'If anyone on my team is caught spying again, we're all sentenced to detention the morning of the match. We basically forfeit.' He crosses his arms over his chest. 'Which I hardly think is a fair punishment seeing as it was the Head of Slytherin who decided it.'

'Do you have the money Potter? It's not going to be cheap.'

'I paid fifty-two galleons for a day with you. It won't be an issue.'

'I'll do it.' I reply, quickly rolling up my essay.

'What?' He asks, startled. 'Really?'

'Yes, why not?' I stand, snatching up my bag and turning away. 'I'll be in touch.'

'Wait, Perry!' He calls after me. 'Deal?' He holds out his hand.

'Deal.' I shake on it.

Rose

'Hey.'

I look up from my soup to see Scorpius there.

'Can I sit?' he asks, gesturing to the seat across from me.

'Of course!' I reply enthusiastically. I check myself, returning my voice to a normal pitch. He takes himself a bun and chews on it for a moment.

'I've done something about Nott.' He tells me, looking across the hall to his table. I resist the urge. 'I would like to ask you not to let the word spread – we're trying to keep it a secret till our match against Gryffindor.'

'What have you done?' I ask, quite interested now.

'I went to McGonagall and asked for a re-trial on his position. He's been replaced.' Scorpius looks up at me. 'I didn't give her any of the particulars; I just said that Nott wasn't fit for the team. Levi Walker is our newest beater.'

I file the information in the quidditch portion of my brain. I know that Amelie will be interested as well.

'Nott is not in a good mood.' Scorpius is still watching me. 'I don't hold any authority over him, but if he's looking suspicious don't hesitate to come find me. I'll take full responsibility of hexing his idiot arse. And I'll enjoy doing it.'

I beam at him. 'This is all because of me?'

'Nott is a prat. This is longtime coming.'

'Thank you, Scorpius.' I can feel my face flushing. I lean across the table, narrowly avoiding putting my elbow in the butter, and give him a quick kiss on the cheek. 'Really. Thanks.'

He smiles. 'It's no problem Rose.'

I glance around the hall to make sure that none of my cousins saw that.

'What do you say we go down to the lake and feed the giant squid?' He asks, snatching a few pieces of toast.

I bite my lip, pretending to think for a moment. 'I say yes.'

Coraline

'Coraline – catch!' Marvel says before launching his super bouncy ball at my head.

Merlin, how did I get myself into this situation?

I duck and the ball sails over me, bouncing all over the place until Lorcan goes to get it.

'This isn't very fun.' I say as it narrowly misses my ear for the third time.

'It would be if you could catch the bloody ball.' Marvel says. 'I thought that you could play quidditch Coraline, let's put those skills to the test.'

'I'm a beater!' I cry as Lysander fakes tossing it to his brother and sends it my way instead. I lunge forwards and it slips through my fingers, hitting my shoe and rebounding into my forehead. I rub the spot, glaring at the bouncing ball. 'I don't catch, I beat!'

The boys laugh. In a fit of rage, then next time the ball comes my way I meet it with my fist, letting out a fierce battle cry. It rebounds into the lake, ending the game. I laugh triumphantly, throwing a finger in Marvel's face.

'Ha-HA!' I shout. 'You can take your super bouncy ball of pain and SHOVE IT.'

He flips me the bird.

The giant squid makes ripples in the water, approaching the shore where two figures are standing, launching toast at him.

'You don't suppose the giant squid will die if he eats our ball, will he?' Lysander asks, seriously worried.

'That ball is smaller, and weaker,' I throw in, earning a scoff from Marvel. 'Than my fist. I think he'll be okay.'

'If he's looking sick we'll owl mum,' Lorcan assures his brother. 'She's got a cure for everything.'

'Hey mates, and mate-ette.' A voice like twenty singing cherubs greets us. I turn, repressing a lovesick sigh. 'What are you doing?'

'We were playing catch, but Coraline ruined that.' I get a reproachful look from Marvel.

'That was your own fault!' I rebut, pointing to the red splotch on my forehead.

Fred pouts adorably – and a little sarcastically. 'Aww, poor Coraline.'

'Does she need someone to kiss it better?' Lorcan loops his arm around my shoulder and presses a slobbery kiss to the sore spot. I elbow him in the gut. Idiot – I could have gotten Fred to kiss me!

Ah. Fred. Kissing me.

'Coraline?' Julien is looking at me strangely.

'Um, yes, I agree.' I pretend as if I had been paying attention to their conversation, cheeks flaming.

'Alright, so everyone is good for a romp through the Forbidden Forest?'

'Um, no. X-nay. Nada. Nope. ' I shake my head back and forth as the Scamander twins link arms with me, following after the other boys.

'Come on Coraline. We do it all the time.' Marvel says.

'Yeah, there's hardly any danger.' Fred backs him. 'And if there is we'll behave like proper gentlemen and save the lady.'

Mmm. Alright Fred.

Sunlight filters through the treetops as I follow a path through the forest. The boys laugh and run, hauling snowballs at each other and dashing all over the place. Nervous and antsy, I keep Hogwarts in view at all times. Do these blokes not understand why it's called the Forbidden Forest? Because of the centaurs and the werewolves and the giant spiders – for Merlin's sake, Voldemort hid out here once!

I grip my wand tight.

After a while the path winds its way out of the forest and leads to Hagrid's hut, a small stone building next to the school's pumpkin patch. The old, half-giant grounds keeper is outside and he waves the boys over, smiling at their rowdy antics as they hide behind large pumpkins, dodging snowballs. With one big hand Hagrid dumps a pile snow on Marvel's head, soliciting laughs from the other boys. Marvel dances around, trying to keep snow from dripping down his collar. He's unsuccessful.

''Y don'cha come in.' Hagrid gestures towards his hut. ''Ere's tea on.'

Six teenagers and a partial giant don't fit well in a house made for one, we find. Hagrid takes his seat at the table, pouring tea into massive cups for us all to drink. Julien and Lorcan snag the two other seats, Marvel and Fred take the sofa and Lysander hops up on the counter. I stand awkwardly off to the side for a moment, then perch on the arm of the sofa.

I'm ridiculously aware of how close Fred's hand is to my bum.

''Ow're classes goin' then?' Hagrid asks.

'Good,' Julien replies. 'I've got a nice semester, no double periods. I do have History of Magic first on Monday though.' Everyone nods sympathetically.

'An how're you finding Care of Magical Creatures?' The giant asks nervously.

'It's a riot, Hagrid.' Marvel assures him. 'Everyone loves it. Best course at Hogwarts.'

'Not everyone, ain't at right, Coraline?'

Every eye in the cabin is suddenly on me.

'I – erm – don't have the best of luck with animals.' I mumble.

'Come on, Care of Magical Creatures is the best class out there. All of the animals are perfectly tame.' Lorcan says, sipping at his tea.

'Nah,' Hagrid says, squinting at me. 'S'true. Coraline got pulled inter the lake by a kelpie durin' 'er first class. At was a good day.'

'A good day?' I ask, incredulous.

He shrugs. 'Got ta save a student. At ain't appened since Arry Potter was 'ere.'

'What else has happened to you?' Fred asks, eyes gleaming mischievously as he looks up at me.

'Oh, you know, near death impalements from unicorns, thestrals running me over, random hippogriff attacks…' I say as nonchalantly as I can. 'And the occasional flobberworm trying to bite my finger off.'

'But flobberworms don't have mouths.' Julien says, looking quite confused.

'Yes they do,' Lysander kicks the back of his chair. 'How else did you feed yours lettuce last year?'

Julien hangs his head. 'I didn't.'

We all look to the half-giant in the room who doesn't seem to have heard him. Julien breathes a sigh of relief and starts up a conversation about the upcoming quidditch match. Slytherin bashing ensues.

'I can't believe Jules managed to kill his flobberworm.' Fred mutters just loud enough for me to hear, leaning forwards slightly.

'To be fair,' I squeak. 'The only time my flobberworm was active was when he was trying to bite me. Little Craven appeared to be quite dead most of the time. That was how he got me. He'd lure me into a false sense of security and then chomp.'

'Craven?' Fred asks, brow raised.

'Em – yeah. Craven.'

He leans back chuckling. Beside him Marvel is staring at me.

Craven? He mouths. It couldn't have been something cool, could it?

I cross my arms and sniff disdainfully. No.

Ruth

I change my position from leaning against the wall to sitting on the bench near me.

Is that more natural? It's more natural.

Should I have a book? Ravenclaws always have books.

Is Ancient Runes too nerdy? Defense is cooler. I'll get my defense book.

Fawkes. Where is my Defense book?

Fawkes. Did I leave it in the library?

FAWKES –

'Lo, Ruth.'

I stop my frantic search for my book to look up at the handsome bloke greeting me. I try to pretend that I didn't just spend an hour watching him under the pretense of doing my Potions essay in the library, then run the hell out when he noticed me.

'Hey Romeo.' I flush.

'I think you forgot this on your way out.' He's holding my Defense book in his hand.

'Oh.' I say. 'Thank you.'

'You could have come over to study with me, you know.' He says, leaning on the wall and smiling down at me as I try to shove my book into my overflowing bag.

'You were with your mates. I didn't want to bother you.'

'You're not a bother, Ruth.' He smiles charmingly. 'Come on back, I'll introduce you so that next time you won't dash when I come talk to you.'

He takes my bag for me and slips his arm around my waist when I protest. He leads me back through the library doors, a maze of desks and a sea of students rushing to finish the homework they'd left till Sunday to do. We stop at a table with several people seated at it. None of them appear to be doing any work.

'These are my mates. Evert and Hans,' They're playing hangman. 'Niles,' He's got a pack of exploding snap cards out. 'Posy,' She's glaring across the table at a pair wrapped close around each other on a sofa. 'Her twin, Amity,' She smiles at me, adding a card to Niles' tower. 'And Damon is over there with your teammate Ida. Mates, this is Ruth.'

He points to the sofa and two heads pop up, the boy grinning and the girl looking a little ashamed of herself. She untangles herself from him and comes to stand by me.

'Where's Shea?' Romeo asks Posy.

'She's gone off to get a book.' Posy waves at the bookshelves then turns away, kicking the underside of the table and causing they card tower to fall, singeing her sister's fringe.

'I'm here,' Shea Thomas pops up behind us. I smile at my Divination partner, glad to know at least one of Romeo's friends. 'Have you finished your dream deciphering journal for this week?' She asks me.

'I'll be dead by Wednesday.'

'I last till Friday.' She grimaces, taking her seat and flipping open her book.

'Is that for class?' I ask her.

'Nah,' She grins. 'It's for my brother. I'm going to plant a prank for him in the Head Boy dorm. Eli won't know what's hit him.'

Speaking of Eli, I should find Dominique and ask her how their day in London went.

Damon comes to stand by Ida, slipping his arm around her waist. I'm suddenly reminded that Romeo's is lingering around my own. I look up at him, marveling for a moment at his height, wondering what he's playing at here.

Before I can find my answer, Amelie rushes past the table, cackling manically, lost in her own world.

'Amelie?' I call after her, detaching myself from Romeo and starting after her.

'Ruth!' She spins on her heel, sling-shotting back to me, grabbing my hands. 'This is great. Simply Spectacular. Potter will regret this!'

The funny thing is, she doesn't sound angry. 'Hey Amelie,' I say as she swings my hands back and forth. 'What did Potter do this time?'

'Which Potter?' Ida pipes up, catching Amelie's attention for the first time.

She visibly straightens as she takes in the group of Slytherins watching with mild interest.

'Oh, no one.' She says offhand. 'On a completely unrelated topic, would you two please join me upstairs? Now?'

'Um, alright.' Ida pats Damon on the shoulder in a very un-girlfriend manner. He kisses the top of her head, smiling slightly.

I retrieve my bag from Romeo, but am unable to say a proper goodbye. Amelie is determined to not spend another second there and grabs my arm, hauling me half-way across the library before I can even register being moved. Ida follows after us, running to keep up with Amelie's crazed sprint.

She carries on like this until we're all the way up our dorm. She bursts through the door, startling Nell so much that she falls off her bed, and rushes to her end of the room, pulling out her quidditch chalkboard. Ida pokes her head into the fifth year's dorm to get Mariah while I help Nell in trying to get Amelie to stay in one place long enough to explain herself.

She's managed to get more worked up over this since the library.

'You would not believe what Potter did today.' She says as we seat ourselves. She paces back and forth, spinning chalk between her fingers. 'He came to me and asked me to do something for him. What the idiot doesn't realize is that he has opened himself up to me and shown me his weak spot.'

'And what's that?' Mariah questions.

'What indeed!' Amelie cries scribbling quickly on the chalkboard. 'His trust. He placed his trust in me to get him information about the Slytherin quidditch team before the next game. And he's paying us.'

'Alright,' I say, understanding why she couldn't say as much in front of a group of Slytherins. 'But why did you say that he'd regret this?'

'Because we're not really going to give him good information – we're going to lie.' She throws her head back and laughs.

'Why is Amelie laughing?' Rose asks from the door, pulling off her knit hat and eyeing our captain.

'Your cousin James is paying us for information about the Slytherins and Amelie has gone looney with joy.' Ida sums up for her.

'Well, I've got some information for you.' Rose smiles, taking the chalk away from my deranged friend and turning to the board. She writes: Things we know about the Slytherins. 'Scorpius told me today that he's kicked Nott off the team. They've replaced him with some bloke named Levi Walker.'

'Walker?' Our youngest member asks. 'He's in some of my classes. Fifth year, quite tall. He's not very social.'

'Well you need to get him talking, Mariah.' Our strict, straight talking captain has returned. 'Ditch the Puff and go for the Snake. All of you. Anyone who has a possible contact on that team needs to get in there and get information. I'm talking to you, Ida and Ruth. I saw you getting cozy in the library with those blokes. But not you, Rose. Scorpius is off-limits. If I see you talking to him I only want it to be about when your next date with him is – got it?'

Rose nods, a little confused.

'Every piece of information we get we'll twist and warp so that Potter and his team won't have any idea what's hit them when the match comes around.'

'How much time does that give us?'

'Only six days.' Amelie writes the date on the board and turns back to us with a serious look on her face. 'We've got work to do. Get on it girls.'

A/n: James doesn't know what he's getting himself into. Next we see the girls take on the Slytherin team for secrets.